Belmont Hotel

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A two-storey over basement three-bay Victorian house built 1838 to the designs of Thomas Jackson. Square plan form with prostyle tetrastyle Ionic portico adjoining modern conference centre to the rear. Located southeast part Banbridge town centre, the entrance adjacent to the mini-roundabout junction with Kenlis Street.

Hipped natural slate roof with clay hip and ridge tiles; cast-iron ogee moulded rainwater goods fixed to over hanging eaves with plain soffits and paired eaves brackets; chimneys removed. Ashlar channel rusticated sandstone walling with tooled plat band. 1/1 ground floor timber sliding sash windows with horns; masonry cills. 6/6 ground floor timber sliding sash windows with horns; masonry cills. Double-leaf timber front door with round-headed glazed upper panels; square-headed overlight; moulded architrave flanked by pilasters.

The principal elevation faces southeast and is symmetrically arranged. Door centrally positioned, accessed via a prostyle tetrastyle Ionic portico with entablature and pilaster responds; flanked by a single window to either side; three first floor windows directly over.

The southwest elevation is smooth rendered with projected long-and-short quoins and projected plinth; abutted by two hipped-roof two-storey two-bay subservient blocks to the left and right; lower eaves and ridge levels; between which is a single-storey flat-roofed infill block. The southeast cheek of the right block which addresses the principal elevation comprises two 1/1 timber sliding sash windows ground and first floor windows; the southwest elevation of which comprises a tri-partite 2/4 sliding sash window to the right and a replacement door to the left; the northwest comprises a single window overlooking the flat-roofed infill. The infill block comprises casement high level glazing with tripartite landing window over to main block; timber sheeted water storage enclosure over. The left block has two windows to the first floor south east face; blank southwest; various sized first floor windows to the northwest elevation (ground floor view obscured).

The rear elevation is asymmetrically arranged; three first floor windows with a escape door located left of centre, served by metal escape stair. The ground floor is partially abutted by a modern flat roof single-storey block which adjoins the double height conference centre.

The right elevation is symmetrically arranged; five windows wide to both floors. Central ground floor window altered.

Setting
The house commands an elavated
setting which overlooks the former bleach green and weaver's factory, with extensive survival of mature lawns. The house is accessed via a long sweeping driveway from a gateway with panelled tapered masonry piers with pyramidal caps and associated railings (gates missing) (HB17/07/029B); adjacent is a single-storey hipped roofed stucco-rendered gate lodge with pilaster mouldings (also HB17/07/029B). Glimpsed views are afforded to the former linen stores set to the west of the main house and which are integral to the linen heritage of Banbridge. Small car park area addressing the principal elevation. Large car park to the rear. The immediate context is a maintained landscape of lawn and trees.

Roofing: Natural slate
Walling: sandstone
Windows: Timber
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

Belmont House, a two-storey mansion, was home to two of Banbridge’s most respected families associated with the Linen trade, the McClelland’s and the Smyth’s. A datestone at the site records that Belmont House was constructed in 1838 and in 1861 the Ulster Town’s Directory notes that it was the residence of a Mr. Robert McClelland who was employed as a linen merchant. The house is first depicted on the second edition of the Ordnance Survey map for Banbridge in 1860; the map noted that the mansion’s gate lodge, located to the north of the dwelling, had also been constructed by that time. The linen store to the west of Belmont House is also first shown on the second edition OS map of 1860 and was possibly constructed at the same time as the main house c1840. The store was associated with the bleach mill and greens situated to the N of Belmont House and later with the Belmont Weaving Factory (constructed in the 1860s) which were part of the McLelland/Smyth linen business.

In c.1862 Griffith’s Valuation recorded that Robert McClelland owned the house outright and that the outbuildings located to the west of the house were utilised as ‘yarn and linen stores’. The house and outbuildings were initially valued at £110; however in 1877 this was increased to £120 as a result of the construction of a greenhouse at the site. Robert McClelland resided at Belmont until his death in 1880 at which time his sons Robert, Andrew and Alexander came into possession of the property (PRONI Wills). By the 1901 Census, only Robert McClelland Jnr. (57, Church of Ireland), a linen merchant and Justice of the Peace for Banbridge, lived at Belmont with his wife Mary (53) and their daughter; the census building return described Belmont as a first class dwelling that consisted of 20 rooms and possessed a piggery, turf house and a shed as its sole out offices (not including the linen stores to the west of the dwelling.

The Banbridge Weaving Factory was first depicted on the third edition of the Ordnance Survey map in 1903-18; however on the map it was captioned as the ‘Belmont Weaving Factory’ and had been constructed much earlier during the 1860s. The Annual revisions record that in 1902 the value of Belmont House and its outbuildings (linen stores) were divided; the mansion was individually valued along with its immediate out offices and greenhouse at £100, whilst the linen stores were revalued at £20. The reorganisation of Belmont’s value coincided with the vacation of the site by the McClelland family who were replaced as occupants by a Mr. William Anderson Smyth by 1903; in 1907 the value of Belmont House was reduced to £75 although the reason for this decrease is not known. The McClelland’s continued to own Belmont and the nearby linen factory, leasing the mansion to Smyth who resided there until the late-1920s.

The 1911 Census records that Smyth (49, Presbyterian) was also a Linen Manufacturer and resided at Belmont with his wife Kate (32) and their three daughters along with a number of servants. The census noted that the site possessed additional out offices including a stable, two cow houses and a barn which were presumably added to the site since 1901. Smyth resided at Belmont until his death in 1927 when the site came into the possession of a Mr. James McFinney (PRONI Wills). When McFinney took over the site the former linen stores to the west of the house were described as ‘stores’ in the Annual Revisions and were reduced in value to £6 15s; the value of Belmont House remained at £75 by the end of the Annual Revisions in 1930.

Belmont House is no longer a private dwelling and currently is a hotel. Rankin states that the dwelling was constructed in 1838 and was designed by Thomas Jackson (1807-1890), a Belfast-based architect who primarily designed dwellings but also designed St. Malachy’s Church in Belfast and was architect to the Banbridge, Lisburn and Belfast Railway (Dictionary of Irish Architects). The mansion was constructed for the McClelland family who were respected linen merchants who operated in the Banbridge area from the mid-18th century; the McClelland’s resided at Millmount (HB17/04/017) from c. 1762; however by the late-18th century they had vacated the site. Robert McClelland established the Banbridge Weaving Factory to the north of Belmont House in 1865 (Rankin, p. 50).

William Anderson Smyth occupied Belmont House by 1903 when he was recorded in the Annual Revisions. Smyth (1861-1927) was the son of William Smyth Esq. Who was one of the most respectable Linen merchants in Banbridge. The Smyth family settled at Banbridge in the early-18th century and established the Milltown Bleachworks at Lenaderg which Rankin states was the largest factory of its kind on the River Bann. In 1883 William Smyth Esq. Constructed a powered loom factory at Brookfield which produced fine and course linens. The company name was changed to Smyth’s weaving Co. And Smyth brought his son William Anderson Smyth into partnership. William A. Smyth continued to operate the company after his father’s death 1913 at which time he resided at Belmont with his family. The business continued at Banbridge despite the recession of global textile industry in the aftermath of the First World War, however in the 1930s the Smyth family downsized production at their factories, ceasing the bleaching of cloth in 1930 and yarn shortly afterwards. It was at this time that the linen store was converted into a row of dwelling houses, known as ‘Belmont View’. Finally in 1947 the Milltown factory was closed (Rankin, pp 84-86).
During Griffith’s Valuation Belmont House’s single-storey gate lodge, constructed c. 1860, was jointly valued with a boiling house at £7 10s., however in 1870 it was individually valued at £2. Dean described the gate lodge as ‘somewhat less elegant’ than the house itself. The building is currently lying vacant and was included in the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society’s Building at Risk in 2008 (Dean, p. 64; UAHS, P. 60).

In 1969 Brett described Belmont House as a ‘fine square two-storey merchant’s mansion of horizontally rusticated golden freestone with tetrastyle Ionic portico; an excellent example of the Greek Revival style at its late best’ whilst in reference to the former linen store Brett noted ‘an impressive 9-bay range of three-storey buildings plastered, well-sited to overlook the wooded slope down to the river’ (Brett, p. 10).

Belmont House was listed in 1977 and is currently operating as a hotel; since its conversion into a hotel a large modern extension (used as a conference centre) has been added to the rear of the house between the original mansion and its western outbuildings. The former linen store is now derelict but constitutes the only historic building remaining from the McLelland/Smyth linen enterprise at this location and, indeed, is one of the few remaining buildings that were once solely dedicated to the linen trade, to survive anywhere in Banbridge.

References

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/3/27/1 – First edition Ordnance Survey map 1833
2. PRONI OS/6/3/27/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey map 1860
3. PRONI OS/6/3/27/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey map 1903-1918
4. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/64/A – Griffith’s Valuation c. 1862
5. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/6/A – Annual Revisions 1864-1874
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/6/B – Annual Revisions 1874-1884
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/6/D – Annual Revisions 1885-1894
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/8/A – Annual Revisions 1894-1898
9. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/8/B – Annual Revisions 1899-1910
10. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/8/C – Annual Revisions 1911-1922
11. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/8/D – Annual Revisions 1921-1930
12. Ulster Street Directories (1843-1918)
13. PRONI Wills Catalogue (23 June 1880; 14 May 1927)
14. Census of Ireland (1901 / 1911)
15. First Survey Record – HB17/07/029 (1969)

Secondary Sources

1. Brett, C. E. B., ‘List of historic buildings, groups of buildings, areas of architectural importance in the Borough of Banbridge’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1969.
2. Dean, J. A. K., ‘The gate lodges of Ulster: A gazetteer’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1994.
3. Rankin, K., ‘The linen houses of the Bann Valley: The story of their families’ Belfast: Ulster Historical Foundation, 2007).
4. ‘Buildings at Risk Vol. 8’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 2008.

Online Resources

1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest
V. Authorship

Evaluation

A two-storey over basement three-bay Victorian house built 1838 to the designs of Thomas Jackson. The principal façades have retained their character and historic appearance. Some alteration has occurred to the internal layout, in order to accommodate the change in use, however the original plan form and much historic plaster and joinery work have survived. The setting survives although the large conference centre to the rear has a significantly detrimental effect. The house is a fine example of the work of a notable local architect surviving in mostly original condition and the comples is intimately associated with prominent families in the local linen trade.
The house commands an elavated setting which overlooks the former bleach green and weaver's factory, with extensive survival of mature lawns. The house is accessed via a long sweeping driveway from the gatescreen with panelled tapered masonry piers with pyramidal caps and associated railings with attendant single-storey hipped roofed stucco-rendered gate lodge (HB17/07/029B). Glimpsed views from the avenue on the way to the house are afforded to the former linen stores set to the west of the main house and the entire complex is testament to the rich linen history and heritage of Banbridge.

General comments

This record has been renumbered from HB17/07/029 and the Gatelodge, which was previously included in the listing, has been listed separately as HB17/07/029B.